The U.S. military discharged thousands of service members across the nation for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. The mass terminations, carried out at the direction of the Biden Administration, began in August of 2021. Since that time, there have been growing calls from many to reinstate those unfairly discharged.
On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the military will now be addressing those who were pushed out.
“We’re also welcoming back former service members who were wrongly forced to leave the military,” Hegseth said. “More than 8,700 service members were involuntarily separated for not taking an experimental COVID-19 vaccine. Others were more informally pushed out or decided to get out.”
According to Hegseth, there is a large-scale effort now taking place to bring individuals discharged back into the military.
“We are actively welcoming back those warriors of conscience,” he said. “We’ve sent letters out. We’re seeking them out, want them back. They never should have been forced out. The Personnel and Readiness department is working in real time to make that process more and more efficient, more and more direct every single day.”
The Secretary’s efforts have the support of several elected officials in Washington, D.C., including U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville. Tuberville, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on X that members of the military should never have been discharged for refusing an “experimental vaccine.”
https://twitter.com/SenTuberville/status/19154346546198860394
Tuberville worked to stop the discharges in 2022, when he endorsed and helped push the Preserving the Readiness of Our Armed Forces Act and the Stop Firing Our Servicemembers Act.
After the vaccine mandate was repealed in 2023, only 43 troops dismissed elected to return to service under the Biden Administration and former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order in late January to reinstate service members dismissed for refusing the vaccine, with full back pay and benefits. Service members have until April 1, 2026, to express interest.
Austen Shipley is the News Director for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten
